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HarcourtArt

As Christmas 2020 looms, the thought of the absence of real 'get togethers' has brought a new light on the way we celebrate. Whilst physically disconnected from each other, there is a bigger sense of caring between folk, as the reflections on quite difficult times for more people than we may imagine come into focus. For all those we know, and those who have helped the communities so well, we wish a peaceful time over the next few days and into 2021 when surely we can plan to be fulfilled, hug each other again and paste over the last few ...

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Philip carries out most of his work en plein air and he can be found in unusual settings fitting in an hour or two of sketching before moving on.... In the African bush Coffee on a cold beach         [caption id="attachment_1204" align="alignnone" width="800"] PK paints on verandah at Eglatine[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2235" align="alignnone" width="715"] © Photograph - Richard AustinTel: 07831-566005[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2237" align="alignnone" width="1024"] © Photograph - Richard AustinTel: 07831-566005  across the fields of Devon[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2236" align="alignnone" width="828"] © Photograph - Richard AustinTel: 07831-566005[/caption]   IN THE STUDIO for once 

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Local reports from Udaipur this week confirm that, thanks to the quick-thinking magnanimity by the ruler at the Delwara Fort Palace, a clash of some ugly proportions did not come to pass. Early last Friday a band of insurrectionaries emerged from the Aravalli Hills to the walls of the fort, setting up camp in the heat and dust of the orchards. By Saturday night fuelled by french champagne and enlisting military drummers the rabble took a short 45 minutes to get to the gates. Cleverly, they had employed tailors and couture from the region, hairdressers and make up people to disguise their ...

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    WE made it to the Uttarakhand region of the Himalayan hills on the north-eastern reaches of India in the nick on the map bordered by Nepal and Tibet. At about 150 km south of the highest peak in India, the 21,000 feet of Nanda Devi, loomed on the horizon in the gin clear air as though it was a short walk away from our mere 7000 feet hillocks.   Steep and intriguing hills rolling into the distance alive with activity. With eagles souring and woodpeckers sounding, the local doves and great barbetts make the most sound in the short twilight when ...

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In a landscape where serried ranks of vines line the hillsides it doesn't take much to move off the beaten track and just along the unfenced yards to a point where the hedges laden with fruit drop away on the southern slope. And here is a special place to be found. But all the more joyous when the chatter of  manual harvesters are not replaced by machinery. For we are on a private estate in Italy where care is paramount. And on they go and all is quiet again. And this reminds me of a similar exercise, now an annual event, ...

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   My father as a WWII soldier always used the expression "remember belgium!" not by way of direct reference to the 1915 campaign to recruit into the allied forces - see poster - which in itself was a reference to the tremendous atrocities in that country  in 1914: but to emphasise that when lobbing artillery fire towards a german force from allied lines in the spring of 1945 might go a little too far and so to speak over their heads and of course land in Belgium.... and in so doing, bring back those endurances the dear folk suffered in WWI. And of course they ...

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Art in its many forms provides a quiet distraction from the workplace where this small exhibition is set in the heart of Exeter's business area, close to the Cathedral and the refined architecture of Southernhay. On the evening of the 6th October 2106 Philip Kerr presents some west country scenes on the walls of Senate Court as a tiny contribution within the Two Moors Festival of special music and that evening Mozart, Elgar and Gershwin will be played to an invited audience and my pictures. This event is kindly sponsored by  lawyers Foot Anstey who will host the evening with a debate ...

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 PHOTO-PEINTURE: Thalia rushing to St Catherine's Lighthouse Eleven hours in a boat race is a trial but when its on the oldest craft in the fleet with gunnels continually running the water, a pretty strong blow and a lumpy sea then its an adventure. For Thalia built as a gentleman's cruiser in 1888 will have seen such seas before as crew will have white knuckled to haul the un-winched sheets at the wetted sharp end as we did to trim the acres of cream canvass. And what fun to understand the heavy and purposeful slosh through the water as six tons of long keel kept us from ...

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Huts dotted on outcrops at Ecrehou When eighteen friends and family who have known each other for about 35 years are thrust together to celebrate a sixtieth birthday there's quite a buzz. When it takes place in referendum week on the waters of the Channel between the UK and the Continent (I think we used to call it), this physical fault-line coupled with our hosts choice of activity added to the befuddling of minds amongst us. For in 48 hours we managed to leave mainland UK through Southampton water, arrive in continental Cherbourg three hours later, to be set aboard a sailing vessel to back ...

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The place is simply a joy and no wonder those who visit Barcelona hardly ever complain. The active narrower streets nicely separate the main traffic from all the good parts - making such difference to getting about and allowing a host of small enterprises to spill out onto the pathways and squares all of which makes for interest and an unsophisticated order with family concerns jousting out of the shadows - yet there is little gaucheness as the natural rhythm is calm, is proportionate and is subtle. Staying close to the University at Hostal Grau describing itself as an eco-chic hotel, I could not have hit ...

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